Chapter 58
Evil God Beliar (2)
Because of the disparity between their worlds, Lee Shin could look into Beliar’s world, while Beliar could not see inside Lee Shin’s.
Even so, Beliar had assumed it would not pose a serious problem.
He was already familiar with the [Dwarves], the opposing world’s primary military force. Besides, how developed could the subsidiary worlds of a mere lower-ranking god possibly be?
‘Why is there a dragon?’
That was why Beliar could not help being bewildered.
‘A druid dragon...?’
Beliar witnessed with his own eyes that the possibility he had only tentatively considered was real.
What kind of madman would turn a dragon—one of the highest-ranking races—into a druid?
Who would commit something so inefficient, irrational, and utterly insane?
‘...’
Only then did Beliar remember that one of the most deranged gods in the World of Stars was friendly toward that former human.
But by then, it was already too late.
[What are you doing?! Use your breath! Breathe fire!]
[Why aren’t you flying?! Obey us!]
The instant the eighteen dragons saw Baby Dinosaur Rex, they froze like statues.
At the same time, every trace of their vicious aura vanished. They gazed warmly at the baby dinosaur like women fawning over a kitten.
[Kill him! Kill him!]
The dragon riders shouted.
At that moment, one dragon thrashed its body violently.
[...Harsh words... forbidden.]
With a single swing of its massive body, the dragon rider on its back cried out in surprise and plummeted toward the ground.
Having fallen from such a tremendous altitude, he had no chance of surviving. One of the dragon riders died without even managing a final scream.
A dragon rider was a top-tier military asset—one who required even more resources to train than a fighter pilot in a modern air force.
Yet he met an absurdly anticlimactic end.
[Everyone, return! Emergency retreat!]
At Mars’s command, all the remaining dragon riders leaped from their mounts.
They deployed their parachutes and attempted to escape, but the eighteen dragons had no intention of allowing them to return.
The dragons turned and exhaled their breath.
Every last rider was incinerated in the sky.
A cold silence descended.
The eighteen dragons looked up at the heavens.
[...This place... looks better to live in.]
[There is... a young one of our kind.]
[The young one... must be protected.]
And then—
「Eighteen of your believers have chosen to remain in the opposing world. You have completely lost control over them.」
「The eighteen dragons will now remain in the [Small but Deadly World]. Divine power will be deducted.」
A catastrophe had occurred.
...
“...”
No one could have predicted such an outcome.
After returning to the World of Chains and Shackles, Mars silently sank to the ground.
No matter how foul-tempered Beliar was, even he could not blame his believer at that moment.
How could anyone have anticipated and prepared for this?
The Small but Deadly World—and, more precisely, the worlds under Lee Shin’s control—had long since surpassed the level of a [Lower-Ranking God].
Although the dwarves’ innate combat strength was low, they could amplify it enormously through their strangely advanced [Productivity] and [Technology].
They could construct proper fortresses, persistently hold their ground, and grind apart any enemy that entered first.
When it came to controlling territory, their world could rival the worlds of most [Intermediate-Ranking Gods]. Moreover, despite being souls specializing in [Production] and [Technology], they also possessed high [Mental Fortitude].
Normally, races specializing in craftsmanship, such as dwarves, became exhausted as a war dragged on.
Symptoms such as [Depression] and [Lethargy] should have appeared quickly.
Only races born specifically for battle could wage prolonged wars without suffering such problems.
That had indeed happened when Beliar invaded the dwarves’ world in the past.
The dwarves initially resisted well, but as time passed, they grew depressed and lost their will to fight. It had even become common to find dwarves who had taken their own lives within the cities.
Was that not why the succubi had so eagerly invaded?
Even the former god of the Small Ones, who had initially held firm, gradually broke down after witnessing such scenes.
The current dwarves, however, were different.
Far from finding the war unbearable, they burned with enthusiasm like natural-born warriors.
Beliar did not realize that he himself was responsible for this change.
They had already suffered annihilation once before. After enduring years of sorrow, they had only just regained their freedom.
The dwarves of the past and those of the present fundamentally differed in how they confronted a crisis.
That was how the present situation had arisen.
Taken as a whole, Lee Shin’s world was bizarre.
As long as they were defending a fortress, the dwarven legion could display combat strength comparable to the world of an [Intermediate-Ranking God].
Jude the necromancer was unaffected by ordinary amounts of divine power and fought using his wealth of experience.
There was even an asymmetric military asset that was both a druid and a dragon.
The eighteen dragons of Beliar’s world, which he had regarded as his ultimate trump card, had been effortlessly swallowed up by the opposing side like a windfall.
Beliar could only seethe with rage.
He had been caught off guard the first time, but this time he had not underestimated them.
He had set aside some of his pride, listened to Mars, and confronted the enemy seriously.
Yet this was still the result?
[Great One, I do not believe we can use the dragons.]
“We cannot use them at all? Are you saying we cannot exploit the natural hierarchy between them?”
[Dragons possess a far stronger sense of kinship than you realize. They are a race that would consider it only natural for every adult dragon to sacrifice themselves to protect a single hatchling. If the remaining dragons discover that there is a young dragon on the other side... we will lose them as well.]
Beliar wanted to scream.
But screaming would change nothing.
In the end, Beliar decided to cast aside all his pride.
「TIP: ...You lifted my block rather quickly.」
He first unblocked the Status Window Administrator.
「TIP: You should have listened to me back then. You would have been in a much better position if you had disposed of all the unnecessary colonies and maintained only the ones you could reliably control. How many colonies are you forcibly holding onto despite their low faith, wasting divine power as their faith continues to decline?」
「TIP: The opposing world’s military strength is at least intermediate level. Your legions are average among mid-to-high-ranking worlds, Lord Beliar. However, you currently cannot utilize your armies of other races properly. More importantly, the Iron Men who form your core military strength are at a complete disadvantage in terms of compatibility.」
「TIP: If you cannot utilize the armies of other races, you effectively possess no military advantage.」
No military advantage.
Beliar could no longer deny it.
He had personally witnessed the seemingly feeble dwarves of the opposing world. He had once ignored Mars’s advice and ordered a charge.
And the result?
The dwarves had retreated in a disgraceful display. But the moment the charging legion entered their kill zone, they unleashed their firepower.
Then they slaughtered every last soldier.
It was the overwhelming dwarven firepower that had once astonished Beliar—the weapons of a race whose [Technology] had once been acknowledged even within the World of Stars.
「TIP: Military power is not the only issue. The opposing world has a druid. It would be best to assume that its food production is effectively limitless. If the war becomes prolonged, every one of our inhabitants except the Iron Men will starve to death... although riots will probably erupt before then.」
「TIP: They will declare that they would rather escape their colonies and become independent than starve to death. No matter how powerful the governor stationed in a colony may be, there will be no way to endure if all its inhabitants rise against him at once. We also have no forces available to send back there.」
「TIP: The worst-case scenario would be for the colonial worlds to cooperate with the opposing world. At a glance, the opposing god appears to possess a benevolent disposition. His religion also espouses the doctrine of [Self-Reliance], making it perfectly suited to enticing oppressed souls under these circumstances.」
To be struck down by the blades of those he held in his own hands—
Beliar could imagine no more humiliating end.
He could not allow it.
Even if his very existence had to be extinguished first.
‘How can a world like that even exist?’
A dragon druid who tormented the enemy world at will with its overwhelming reserves of mana.
An undead necromancer who laughed while being struck by divine authority.
And dwarves who had constructed a fortress zone capable of erasing ordinary legions with firepower alone.
No such absurd combination of worlds could possibly exist, even if one searched through every world belonging to lower- and intermediate-ranking gods.
It made no sense that the dwarves, whose world had once been annihilated, had already developed to such an extent.
Rapidly developing a world required divine power.
Unless that bastard possessed as much divine power as Beliar himself, none of this was comprehensible.
Had the Mistress of Eternity—Blue Star—somehow lent him divine power?
No. Although gods could trade with one another, they could not lend each other divine power.
Or did he possess some special advantage because he had once been human?
Nothing about it made sense.
Perhaps that was only natural.
How could Beliar possibly have predicted that, in a real world populated by billions, a cult leader with the reach of an internet influencer had been evangelizing so passionately that Lee Shin was gathering an amount of divine power no lower-ranking god should ever possess?
Even Beliar had not dared imagine such a possibility.
「One of your colonies has completely fallen into the hands of ‘Lilith the Succubus’! More than half the inhabitants of Colony 34 have become ‘Dreamers.’ They will experience false happiness within dreams from which they will never awaken—until their physical bodies rot away!」
「You have lost influence over Colony 34.」
「Your divine power is decreasing.」
“...”
That was not the only crisis.
The demon whom Beliar had assumed had entered merely to snatch up a few scraps—Lilith the Succubus—was diligently devouring his worlds as though she had encountered her mortal enemy.
Beliar could not understand it.
Why was she going this far?
‘It’s as if they planned all this together...!’
「Colony 71 wishes to be incorporated into the [Small but Deadly World]. The governor of Colony 71 has been killed in a rebellion by its inhabitants. Rather than starve beneath an evil god, they wish to live in abundance under the Small Ones.」
「The governor of Colony 96 has died.」
「Soldiers of other races conscripted from the colonies have begun deserting. They no longer have any reason to remain in this legion and fight for you.」
「To prevent further desertions, you must either offer them satisfactory terms or reestablish control over their worlds.」
Everything Lee Shin had methodically prepared—
All the foundations he had laid one after another—
They were now bringing Beliar down.
Once one chain began to break, all the others snapped in rapid succession.
「[Jude] of the opposing world has killed the governor of Colony 11. The governor could not withstand the all-out assault of the skeleton legion led by the necromancer.」
「The inhabitants of Colony 11 now serve the tiny skeleton.」
「The tiny skeleton wants a hug!」
Beliar’s mind reeled so violently that he felt on the verge of fainting.
「TIP: This was a crisis that any military world heavily dependent on colonies would eventually face. That is why I repeatedly advised you to increase the proportion of Iron Men and keep only as many colonies as you could reasonably manage.」
「TIP: Colonies belonging to a world that has adopted the doctrine of [Obedience] will inevitably desire independence. That is because you did not create them, Lord Beliar. The children of other gods will ultimately seek their own paths.」
The children of other gods would ultimately seek their own paths.
Upon hearing those words, Beliar nearly blurted out:
‘Then why are those dwarven bastards following that insignificant human?’
But he did not.
“...”
He had the feeling that doing so would bring an answer he never wanted to hear.
All souls naturally followed their creators.
All souls instinctively revered “gods.”
But for them to sincerely believe in and follow a god, something was needed—something capable of overcoming their convictions, their reason for existence, and the stubbornness embedded deep within their souls.
In the World of Stars, that something was called greatness.
All souls ultimately followed the greatest god.
A great god possessed the power to draw every soul toward them.
Whether those souls had been created by that god or not, such a god could make them bow their heads and worship.
Like insects in the night pursuing a flame.
Like a sailor upon an endless sea following the stars.
At that moment, a dwarven unit crossed over from the opposing world.
They brought with them an Iron Man who had been unfortunate enough to be captured.
A dwarf with red hair and red eyes shouted something as he raised his hammer.
Everyone nearby turned to look at him.
Then the dwarf brought down his hammer.
The weapon seemed to have been forged from molten flame. Each swing twisted the Iron Man’s body and mangled it horribly.
Whenever his body was damaged, the Iron Man screamed like a child.
It had now been revealed that the dwarves were capable of ruining the bodies of Iron Men.
The two Iron Men who had returned from the initial reconnaissance mission had not been failures.
They had been captured and imprisoned within those horrific bodies.
The truth had been proven.
「Faith is declining.」
It was the final nail in the coffin.
Beliar said nothing as warning messages continuously appeared before him.
Then the Status Window Administrator sent another message.
「TIP: Will you surrender?」
Surrender.
That softhearted former human might accept it.
But—
「TIP: It is not as though you have no other option.」
「TIP: You already know that, Lord Beliar.」
That could never happen.
「TIP: The opposing god is a lower-ranking god who was once human, while you possess the status of a mid-to-high-ranking god. Although you have been driven into this crisis, that disparity remains.」
「TIP: Ultimately, the fundamental difference in your ‘divine power’ cannot be overcome.」
Beliar’s eyes glowed red.
「TIP: Let us proceed.」
Beliar understood what the Status Window Administrator meant.
And so he did exactly that.
「Activating the skill [Apocalypse].」
He decided to employ the evil god’s final resort.